Too Bad
by maradaii
Summary: Tenten is a skilled ninja from Konoha. She and her team have an average escort mission to the Land of Tea but something seems different about Tenten and she doesn't even know it yet, she's been under alot of stress and seems to be taking a toll on her. Will Tenten be able become the legendary kunoichi she dreams of? NejiTen
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But, honestly, what sort of legal action would you really take if I did not include that one little sentence?_

* * *

"Whaaat time is it?" a groggy voice grunted aloud to no one.

Tenten rubbed her tired eyes before trying to stand and get up. This proved to be a bad idea as the next thing the young kunoichi saw was the spinning room and hard wood floor of her bedroom.

"Oww!"

She leaned against the edge of her bed with her lean, athletic legs sprawled out, tangled in her sheets, rubbing the spot on her head that had just collided with ground.

A wave of dizziness hit her as she started to stand up, kicking the lilac sheets from between her feet, and quickly stumbling out into the hall towards the bathroom.

Icy water splashed against her face as she leaned against the bathroom counter for support. Almost immediately the lightheaded feeling disappeared.

"Ah, that's better, what _was_ that about though?' she wondered, as she turned the squeaky shower handle and waited for the water to heat up, then she remembered last night.

* * *

Neji, Tenten, and Lee were sitting at a booth in a smoky bar.

"Tenten, you look—"

"What? Do I look like I'm devising the most painful way I can stab a thousand poisoned kunai into Kakashi-sensei, because if so you are completely spot on,"

"Actually, I was going to say you look thirsty, do you want me to get you some water?"

"That bastard picked this nasty place saying it was Gai-sensei's "favorite" and now he's late, that bas—"

"I'll go get you that water,"

Lee scurried off to find something to pacify his fuming teammate and left Neji to hear her continuing rants in the dark, smoky bar.

Kakashi appeared a few moments later, he didn't even get to voice one of his famous, and extremely false, excuses because Tenten immediately started informing him of her detailed plans regarding his untimely demise after that night.

"—and I'll make sure there's no evidence linking it back to me,"

"Who else would kill a man with a thousand kunai? It would be difficult _not_ to link it back to you,"

Tenten whipped her head around towards Neji, "_That_ is irrelevant, I'll store his body in a scroll or something, and if you like I could very well include you in this plan, too?"

"No thank you,"

"Are you sure? I could definitely fit two bodies in my scroll."

Tenten was interrupted by a sultry voice directed towards Kakashi, "What can I get you tonight, darl?"

"I'll have—" the silver haired man started.

"Gai-sensei's not even here yet! It's his birthday celebration; you will not be having anything until he gets here!"

"—my usual"

"For you two?"

Tenten's jaw dropped, and she balled her fists, she did not like to be ignored.

"I'm going to go make sure Lee has not gotten into any trouble," she said getting up and shooting a glare towards Kakashi.

The bun haired kunoichi weaved her way through the mass of people in their revealing outfits, noticing the glean of the sweat glistening on their exposed skin as they got wasted for the night.

"At least Lee's easy to spot, he's the only guy dressed in a green spandex suit, and he's the only one that's sober," she muttered to herself as she went towards the familiar green sight.

As she got closer she noticed he wasn't alone, he was standing with his back against the wall with a, well, rather promiscuous looking woman, who seemed to be trying to get him to "enjoy" the night.

The woman was holding a bottle of sake, looking like she was about to pour it into his mouth. Lee was waving his arms and yelling that he absolutely _could not_ drink sake, but she paid him no mind. Tenten could tell Lee was at loss, he didn't want to physically injure the woman, but drinking even a sip of alcohol made him loose control, and it looked like half the bottle was going to be down poor Lee's throat within the next three seconds.

Tenten just managed to jump in between Lee and the woman. However, unfortunately for her, the bottle, and its full contents ended up inside her mouth.

Choking as the alcoholic liquid ran down her throat she grabbed Lee's hand and dragged him away from the woman, who was drunk and huffed about wasting her sake on someone "boring".

"Tenten, maybe you should sit down?" Lee offered as a quickly intoxicated Tenten stumbled as she tried to navigate the thick crowd.

"I'm fine, let's just get back to the table,"

Tenten was certainly _not _fine, she was in every sense of the term a light weight and by the time she and Lee got back to the table she was almost passed out and had to have an arm around his shoulder for support just to walk over.

The pair was greeted with three curious and concerned stares when they appeared. Gai had arrived and with a questioning look towards a nearly unconscious Tenten, said, "What happened?"

Lee walked a drunken Tenten back to her house after explaining what exactly occurred to the three jounin. Tenten did manage to slur something meant to sound like "Happy Birthday, Guy-sensei."

* * *

"I had better get working on that plan," she chuckled to herself, realizing she was just a teensy bit hung over as she hopped into the steamy shower.

Then she saw the time. It was eleven-thirty in the morning. She usually got up around six-thirty.

"Shit, I really over slept. Lee and Neji are going to kill me for missing our usual training session,"

She threw on a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt and attempted to put her hair into her usually neat buns as she raced down the stairs to her kitchen, they ended up being quite messy.

"Mom, why didn't you wake me up!?" she shouted at her mother, who was preparing lunch.

"You seemed tired lately so I thought I would let you sleep," she said sweetly smiling at her only child, unfazed by Tenten's rude tone.

The young kunoichi stomped out the door, "Ugh, I'm going to try to find Lee and Neji to explain why I missed practice,"

"You should really eat something before you go, you look a little pale, honey" was the last thing Tenten heard as she headed towards the training fields.

Before she got very far she heard a voice calling her name, it was Izumo Kamizuki, her neighbor and a family friend.

"Hey! Tenten-chan, Tsunade-sama is looking for you, I think she has a mission for you and team Guy. '_Tsunade is going to be pissed that I'm late. This is entirely your fault mother…'_

"Thanks, Izumo, I'll head right over,"

As Tenten's retreating figure headed toward the Hokage Mansion, Izumo raised an eyebrow at the younger girl's disheveled appearance, which was rather uncommon for her. Especially, since Izumo who had known her since childhood, being that their families live next door to one another, had never seen her so discomposed.

Tenten, seventeen and pretty content with her life, she had two parents who loved and cared for her and Team Guy, who even with all their antics, she loved like family. She may not have fulfilled her earlier goal of becoming just like Tsunade, but she continues to strive for her new goal, to be an amazing kunoichi.

* * *

She arrived and hastily knocked on the door of Hokage's office.

A resounding, "Enter!" was the only response

She scurried over to where she saw the other members of Team Guy were standing, which included the ever youthful Guy-sensei, his mini me, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyuuga. Shizune was in the background looking, rather flustered, as usual.

"Well, now that everyone has finally arrived, I can fully brief you on your next mission," said Tsunade, stressing the "everyone" part and staring down Tenten, she appeared to be in a bad mood. Tenten's cheeks burned with embarrassment at the dig from the Hokage and she lowered her head to look at the floor. '_Looks like Shizune has been restraining Tsunade from indulging in her beloved stock pile of sake_.'

"You will be escorting a relative of the Daimyo to the Tea Country, she is getting married there and the Daimyo has ordered an escort due to her royal lineage."

"Shizune!"

"Hai"

"Give them the mission documents and then see them out,"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama"

"Okay, my youthful comrades, meet at the front gate in an hour" said Guy in his usual intense voice with that particular delighted tone reserved for when the word "youth" is even vaguely mentioned.

"Hai, Sensei!" responded Lee, immediately, in a disturbingly similar voice.

Neji just nodded his assent and started off in another direction.

Tenten was left standing there shaking her head, as Guy and Lee rambled about how they were going to do their standard youthful, pre mission warm up, composed of a lowly four hundred push ups and a run around all of Konoha in three minutes flat.

* * *

She headed home to prepare herself for the long mission. It would take about a week and a half to travel on foot to the Land of Tea. The girl they were escorting was an easy target for attackers who would ransom the Daimyo in exchange for her life or kill her to scare him, so they had to travel through the forest to keep the woman safe and away from too many onlookers.

'_This was not exactly the exciting mission I was hoping for_,' she internally groaned, as she stuffed her backpack with essentials for the mission. She had just recently stopped by the supply store so her scrolls were full of a multitude of weapons, which she was revered for her great skill. She was the girl never known to miss her target.

Tenten grabbed something to eat from the kitchen, where her mother stood, a familiar red and white checked apron around her waist, as she headed out. "Bye, Mom, I'm off on a mission and I should be back in a few weeks or so, love you"

"Bye honey, be careful," responded her mother, Hanako, pulling her into a motherly hug that Tenten was trying to squirm out of in a very teenager like way.

Tenten ran out of the house with a large scroll attached to her back and a backpack in tow. Her dark brown hair was in its usual twin buns and she wore a white blouse with red trim and red hakama-like pants. Her forehead protector was secured around her forehead and her bangs were hanging over it. She was ready for this mission, no matter how boring it would probably end up being.

This time Tenten made a point of being the first member of Team Guy to arrive at the meeting place. She was about ten minutes early. She was lazily leaning against the gate, swinging a kunai around her finger when Neji walked over and stood next to her. His sudden arrival drew her out of her thoughts and she dropped the kunai.

"Tenten, why were you late this morning?" he asked in his usual somewhat serious tone.

"Oh, hi Neji, you startled me," she explained as she bent down to pick up the fallen weapon, "And I was so late because I overslept, possibly because of the events of—er, last night, and my _wonderful_ mother decided not to wake me up, out of 'motherly' concern."

Before Neji could respond, a new voice came into the mix.

"I thought you were supposed to be highly skilled ninja, my uncle is the _daimyo_ of the Land of Fire, demanded that I be guarded by _expert_ ninja" complained an annoying voice, "You just dropped your own kuno that you were just lazily swinging around"

"Oh, I'm sor-" started Tenten

"But, you—you look promising," she cooed looking over Neji and batting her eyelashes at him, and in the process cutting off Tenten who was attempting to apologize for upsetting her and explain that she was indeed competent.

"And it's a kunai not a kuno, baka" muttered Tenten.

The new girl barely noticed, only slightly stopping to shoot a quick icy glare, as she was too busy coming onto a very _uninterested_ Neji Hyuuga.

Tenten immediately felt better after being slighted by the rude girl, when she saw the girls eyes widen at the two figures who were running full speed toward them; two very unforgettable figures, clad in green spandex.

"Tho—those aren't the other two assigned to guard me, are they?" she stammered her wide eyes still glued to the approaching figures of Guy and Lee.

"Actually, they are" said Neji in his calm voice but he was looking Tenten's way and she could see the pleasure he had at taking this girl down a notch shown in his eyes, the same feeling was displayed by the huge smirk on Tenten's face and the laughter that she just _couldn't_ seem to suppress.

"I win again Lee, but if you keep practicing and trying you will one day beat me," said Guy who had apparently just won their race.

"Hai, Sensei, of course the power of my youth will drive me" responded Lee who was not at all down after losing the race, after hearing advice from his idol, Guy.

"Hello, young flower of youth, you must be Masayuki-sama" said Guy in his passionate tone.

Lee added with almost equal passion, "We swear to protect you from any outside threat as expert ninja!"

Tenten was still recovering from her earlier laughing fit, Neji tried his best to ignore them, and Masayuki looked like she was ready to run and face the kidnappers by herself rather than deal with the intensity of Konoha's green spandex duo.

"So, I see you have already met Neji and Tenten."

Masayuki, attempting to recover from her initial shock started to babble about her high breeding and relation to the daimyo. Tenten tuned this out and looked over the obnoxious girl in front of her. She looked every bit like the niece of a daimyo. She was wearing a very expensive looking silky, pink kimono with a white obi that tied in a giant bow at her back. She had long blonde hair that went down her back and bangs that framed her face.

In the background Tenten could see the unlucky person who was tasked with being Masayuki's escort around Konoha. The poor guy looked terrified primarily of his bossy charge and then of Guy and Lee. '_Now the lucky bastard gets to leave her behind with us_.'

'_This is going to be a very long mission,'_ was the only thing going through Tenten's head as the team departed from Konoha in the direction of the Land of Tea.

* * *

_Note:_

_Hi so this is the first thing that I've written in a while. I took down my other writing cos I dunno I didn't think they were really up to par anymore. This is really the first serious thing I've written. What do you think of it? I don't think I did a good job on Lee, or Guy, or Neji, or… Am I a complete failure? _


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

* * *

The team went at a much slower pace than usual. They were actually walking. A surprising situation, especially for Team Guy, due to a number of factors. Mainly, because Masayuki was not exactly at ninja levels for speed and stamina, if anything she was lacking athletic skill in the general sense. She wouldn't be able to keep up if they went at regular speed and carrying her would slow them down anyway. The other, less crucial reason, was that they're not really in that much of a rush. Her wedding wasn't for at least a month and there weren't any pre-emptive signs that enemies were after her. But the team was still on alert for any threats that would come their way.

As Tenten expected, this was turning out to be an extremely boring mission, and it was only the beginning of the first day. Lee and Guy walked in front and were sharing their excitement at trying new tea blends in the country they were headed towards. Behind them walked Neji and Tenten with Masayuki in between. Masayuki attempted to engage in conversation with Neji who was just politely answering all her questions and not really making much conversation back. After, giving up on Neji she turned to Tenten for conversation.

"So, you look about my age, how old are you?" she asked in a bored but still haughty sounding tone.

"I just turned seventeen,"

"Oh how funny, I'm seventeen, too" she said chuckling to herself.

"What's so funny?" asked an exasperated Tenten, '_Talking to this girl for even five minutes just pisses me off_.'

"Well, I was just thinking that were the same age but my life is going places, since I'm marrying the son of the Daimyo of the Land of Tea and well you're just a lowly ninja who has to escort _important_ people like _me_ around for the rest of her life."

"What the hell do you mea-" started Tenten

But Masayuki ignored the dumbfounded stares being given to her by both Tenten and Neji and continued, in the process cutting Tenten off mid sentence for the second time in one day.

"I'd be surprised if you ever got married, who would _ever_ want to be with a Kunoichi?"

"Would you just shut up, you bitch," was Tenten's response, proud that she restrained herself from hitting the irritating girl.

"I think I'll take up the rear," she added, slowing her pace and leaving Neji with Masayuki. Neji could see through her tough exterior that Tenten had been a little hurt by Masayuki's words.

Neji was left walking awkwardly beside Masayuki, the girl was being extremely rude but in a way he did feel a little bit bad for her, too. He knew what it was like to come from a controlling family and there was no doubt in his mind that she was going through with an arranged marriage, even if she hadn't yet said it.

Masayuki was very quiet for the first time the whole day. She didn't talk much for the rest of the day, either.

* * *

Eventually, they decided to stop and set up camp for the night. Tenten and Guy worked on setting up the tent while Lee and Neji tried get a fire going to cook dinner. Guy, who was better at reading the mood then Lee at least, noticed how the tension that had developed between his sole female student and the Daimyo's niece.

"Did something happen between you and Masayuki-sama today, you both seem a little bit upset?" he asked with concern.

"It was nothing, we just had a small disagreement, I'm over it, it won't interfere with the mission."

"Why do you think two Jounin class ninjas were assigned to this mission?"

"I hadn't really thought about it, but now that you mention it that does seem a little odd."

"Two Jounin's were assigned to this mission because her marriage directly affects the prosperity of the Land of Fire, trade between Fire and Tea was declining so this marriage will strengthen ties between the two countries and the Land of Tea threatened to hire mercenaries to go to war with Fire if it does not happen,"

Realization spread across the brunette's face, "So someone who wants to hurt the stability of the Land of Fire would go after her, I think I understand now, thank you Guy-sensei."

* * *

They finished putting up the tent and made their way back to Lee and Neji who appeared to have attempted to concoct something edible. Cooking was not usually a top skill among a ninjas repertoire. At least, not the one's on Tenten's team.

They sat around the small fire and ate; the food was edible but not great. The mood seemed to have lightened slightly from earlier tension and Lee even got Masayuki to join in when he started talking about Sakura. Relationships seemed to be more of a common ground for her as opposed to weapons and attack formations.

"Sakura-san is so wonderful, she is like a symbol of youth, her rejection makes me want to work even harder to win her love!" he exclaimed passionately.

Tenten tapped a finger to her lips, grinning at the fond memories, "I remember back at the start of the Chuunin Exams when you declared that you would always protect her, Sakura looked about ready to run after that one."

"I think that's sweet Lee, that Sakura doesn't know what she's missing" responded Masayuki, seemingly out of character, to the momentarily down Lee. However, upon hearing Masayuki's kind words he swiftly reverted to his more cheery self.

Tenten was, honestly, surprised to hear such kindness coming from Masayuki. But then she remembered how Guy had implied that her marriage was arranged and was only political. Masayuki probably would not have the luxury of having a crush and then falling in love. Thinking like that, Tenten almost felt bad for her. _Almost_.

The night was winding down and they would have an early start tomorrow. They would get up around six and continue their journey to the Land of Tea.

"Mmmm, I'm tired" said Tenten yawning and looking at the tent longingly, "How should we divide the watch?"

"It was decided that Tenten would have the first watch, then Lee, then Guy, and finally Neji. They would switch every two and a half hours.

Soon after the others went into the tent, wanting to get as much rest as possible. Tenten was left alone making sure no intruders appeared. She sat at the camp trying to stay alert. No intruder, or wild animals, or anything like that appeared. However, half way through she began to feel ill and dizzy again, similar to when she woke up that morning. She ended up throwing up her dinner from earlier. Then she finished her watch without incident and would not mention the little episode to her teammates. '_It was probably Lee's weird cooking, hell he loves that crazy Curry of Life'_ is all Tenten thought to herself.

She went into the tent, and at first gently tapped Lee, who was out like a light, she ended up lightly slapping his cheek and hissing, "You're up, Lee!" before collapsing in her sleeping bag between Masayuki and Neji.

* * *

_Note: Hi so here's the second chapter. Honestly, it was painful to write and I think it ended up being too boring. I'll try to add so more action to the next one if you decide to stick with me after this. Thanks =)_


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own Naruto. Obviously._

* * *

"Tenten! Time to get up" said Lee aloud, face inches from Tenten's own.

She jolted up, her forehead colliding into Lee's with a resounding _thud_.

"Ugh, Lee, why is it again that your face is hovering so close to mine?" growled a tired Tenten as she rubbed her now sore forehead with an evil look on her face.

"Uh, well, we're getting ready to go in a few minutes"

She cringed, mentally chastising herself for overreacting, "Oh, okay thank, I'll be out in a second then,"

Tenten sat up in her sleeping bag and looked around the tent through bleary brown eyes. Masayuki was still asleep beside her and they were the only ones left in the tent. The others' sleeping bags were rolled up and neatly placed beside their respective bag of belongings. Tenten slipped her shirt over the red tank top she slept in and switched from her gray shorts into her usual red hakama pants. Rolling up her sleeves and slipping on her familiar ninja sandals she moved on to her next task with her routine efficiency.

She shook the girls shoulder and flatly said, "Were leaving soon, Masayuki-sama." After speaking to Guy last night she decided was going to try her best to be cordial to the girl but also not seek out any conversation with her. Her pale violet eyes shot open and she looked, at first, confused.

She looked back and forth full of confusion and almost panic, "Wh-where am I?"

"In the tent?"

"Oh, yes, yes, I guess I was just momentarily confused,"

'_What a weird girl_' thought Tenten, who merely raised an eye brow and said, "We plan on leaving soon, so it would probably be best to get up and get ready,"

Masayuki nodded and said she'd be right out. Tenten left the tent to go get breakfast and go over plans with the others. Masayuki was left alone in the tent. The young girl pulled her knees close to her chest and let out a few tears. Unknown to Tenten, her perplexed reaction earlier was because she had never really slept anywhere but the soft bed in her family home. She was actually terrified of marrying a stranger, but she would do it because that's the one thing her father had ever actually asked her to do; his first real acknowledgement of her existence.

Masayuki came out in another expensive looking outfit with her masterfully applied make-up adorning her pretty face and no one suspected she was harboring any inner troubles. They left without incident and the day went pretty smoothly. There were no incidents between Tenten and Masayuki and they were also making good time to the Land of Tea.

* * *

"We probably should stop here for the night" said Guy looking around at the surroundings.

"We could probably get a little farther," commented Tenten, "There's still a lot of daylight left,"

"The change in air pressure implies that a storm is coming soon" replied Neji matter-of-factly.

Lee scratched his head, momentarily puzzled, "Yeah, I felt it, too, we're probably better off setting up a little bit earlier rather than get caught in a downpour,"

Tenten headed away from the group nonchalantly, calling over her shoulder, "Okay, I'll go look around for some firewood, then"

By the time she came back the camp was mostly set up and she found Lee and Neji sparring and an entertained Masayuki watching eagerly. Apparently Masayuki had wanted to see ninjas fighting in the flesh and Lee happily obliged. Guy was also watching.

Tenten started the fire and then joined the others, leaning against a tree arms crossed. "Oh, Tenten your back, I'd really like to see what you can do, too." The glint in the pale haired girl's eyes matched the tone in her snobbish voice. A challenge.

"That's a great idea," offered Lee, seemingly oblivious to the confrontational nature, "She can have a bout with Neji and Guy-sensei and I can go prepare a lovely meal."

The brunette uncrossed her arms, "I'm in" replied Tenten in an excited tone. Tenten was _always_ up for a challenge.

Without a doubt Neji would have the advantage in this fight. He was Jounin rank and his specialty was close combat. However, Tenten, the girl who had been training with him, Lee, and Gai, all primarily close range fighters, for the last five years and also knew how to best work around it.

She started off by summoning a long wooden stick from one of scrolls and began parrying with Neji. They were about equal but Neji soon gained the upper hand. Tenten upped her game a bit more and summoned a barrage of weapons towards Neji. He countered with his Revolving Heaven Technique. He then went back on the offensive using his palm techniques. He landed one peculiar hit which sent Tenten flying back hard into a nearby tree. Her brown eyes nearly burst with surprise when she felt the kick connect with her stomach and the metallic taste of blood began to fill her mouth. She was sure she dodged it. Neji was equally surprised, she hadn't made mistakes like that in years and nowadays was something she would usually have easily avoided.

Masayuki didn't even notice that something odd had occurred. Tenten got back up, grunted, wiped the blood running down her mouth, and went back at Neji landing a few more good hits until she was pinned to a tree.

Neji was only inches from Tenten, his hands pinning her to the tree by her wrists. He could feel her racing pulse and hear the raggedness of her breathing, which she was trying to hide. The practice was over. His pale white eyes stared into her brown ones. Tenten glanced over at Masayuki, who was blushing at their proximity, and in turn her own cheeks turned a light pink.

He noticed and released his grip on her. Tenten exhaled loudly, playfully punched him in the shoulder, and then said, "Now let's see what those two have cooked up," as she walked alone towards the camp. Masayuki quickly followed. Neji walked slower and thought about that odd punch and the way Masayuki looked at their proximity. Tenten used to try to prove a point that kunoichi's were as good a male Shinobi's when they were younger by beating up him and Lee. They had definitely been that close before.

As Tenten hurried a head she also thought about the out of nowhere blush but pushed the thoughts aside as she sat down for food. '_It was probably just because silly Masayuki was blushing away in the corner_.' Sure she had a crush on him when they were twelve year old genin but she grew up and became more mature. She _was_ extremely close to both him and Lee, though.

* * *

They all sat together around the fire and ate the rice and vegetable dish that Guy and Lee put together.

She shot the two green clad figures a side long glance, "This is a little better than what you two concocted last night."

"I thought the food was lovely, it reminds me of my first kiss," said Masayuki, as she slugged down a cup of sake which she produced from one of her multitude of bags of belongings. She offered some to the group who all declined except Guy. Who had one glass, wanting to stay alert for the mission. No one bothered to mention that they were all below the legal age.

This earned her the odd stares of the entire group.

"Does it?" inquired Guy, the only one bold enough to proceed, "In what way, exactly?"

"It was with the family cook's son, he made me rice with vegetables in an attempt to impress me, we were twelve,"

"What about you Guy-san?"

"My first kiss was with Shizune"

All three of his students nearly choked, dumbfounded at the idea of the no nonsense medic-nin and _Guy_, "Really! How on earth did that happen?"

"Oh, it was an accident," he responded, "We were thirteen and Asuma pushed me and I fell and kissed her, she punched me and Asuma, after,"

"That makes more sense," said Neji low enough that only Tenten managed to catch it. She grinned at him in confirmation.

"I have yet to experience mine," said Lee.

"Really?" asked Masayuki who was sitting next to him, a curious glint in her eyes and a light blush on her cheeks.

"Yes, maybe it'll be Sakura one day," he said in a bit of a down tone.

He turned his head and _bam_ Masayuki's lips were crashing into his own. Tenten nearly choked (once again) on the water she happened to be sipping at that exact moment. Guy looked ecstatic that his pupil was experiencing such a milestone on his watch.

"Sakura can be your second kiss" she said with a wink at the crimson faced Lee.

"What about you Tenten?" Now it was Tenten's turn to blush.

"I, er, well I've had mine already," she said blushing.

"Really, how was it?" she pestered.

"It was as awkward as first kisses are, I was fourteen," she said vaguely, claearly wanting to change the subject.

"So, what _exactly _were the circumstances?" asked Masayuki, this was definitely her style of conversation.

"My friend Ino dared me to go up to him and kiss him, I _never_ go back on a challenge and fulfilled the dare."

"Sounds like an interesting first kiss,"

She moved on to her next victim, staring sweetly up at the other male member of the team, "We haven't heard from you Neji?"

"I'd rather not say,"

"Come on please!" pleaded Masayuki, "Is it that you just haven't had yours?

"Hn, I have had mine," he continued, slightly annoyed, "A fourteen year old girl pinned me to a tree and stole my first kiss,"

Tenten blushed and laughed. Masayuki's jaw dropped realizing that it was Tenten. And Guy and Lee looked hurt that they were never informed.

"Okay, well I think it's time that we retire for the night," said Guy moving towards the tent, "Neji, you have the first watch,"

Tenten didn't stand up with the others, "I'll stay up with you, Neji, I'm not tired yet,"

"Fine," was all he said in response.

"You know, I didn't mean to _steal_ your first kiss,"

"So do you usually go around pinning guys to trees and kissing them?"

"Well no, but, how was I supposed to know it was your first kiss," she said yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Tenten, earlier that hit you took; it was something you usually could have dodged…," he said quickly changing the subject, his tone turning more serious.

"Oh, well, guess I just got caught a bit off guard," she said grinning sheepishly and rubbing her head, "Won't happen again,"

Then she rose and said, "I think I'm going to go for a quick walk for some air and then go to bed, wake me for my shift?"

Neji merely nodded his assent and watched her departing figure.

Tenten went for a quick walk around the surrounding woods, the earlier heat of the fire having made her dizzy, and then returned to the tent just as it started to rain. Two hours or so later Neji woke her up for her watch. By then it was raining rather heavily. But the night went on without incident and they continued on their rather monotonous journey the next day.

* * *

_Note: Hi sorry it took me sooo long to update. I was on vacation for a month in Scotland. I have slated this above my summer assignments though! Hope you like this. I wrote this while staying up till 3 am because of a spider in my bathroom that I was convinced would come and crawl in my mouth while I slept. I was also listening to that old DDR song from childhood, Butterfly, on repeat so ai ai ai ai ai ai where's my samurai? I'm not so proud of this chapter. I'll try to make the next one more interesting. Thanks for reading anyways =)_


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